1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to discovery, migration, and transformation processes of server and storage systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods for rapid and accurate classification of computer storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer technology evolves at an extremely rapid rate. According to the often cited Moore's law, every two years the capacity of a memory chip doubles, and the number of processors on a processor chip double. A similar “law” applies to computer storage. Unfortunately, the benefits associated with this phenomenal growth of computer and storage technology cannot easily be integrated into a running Information Technology (IT) center, or, data center, which must continue to handle “live” processing requests (e.g., banking transactions, production machinery controlling, weather monitoring, or searches) while IT equipment and programs are being updated and serviced. Data centers cannot be easily shut down since their activities are needed to keep businesses, etc. running. Modernizing an IT center is a delicate process with many intricacies that require not only an understanding of the underlying configurations of the broader system but must also take into account the dependencies among operating programs (i.e. processes).
The complexities of managing a data center result from many contributing factors. For example, as a data center grows with demand, bottlenecks and competition for resources occur. Piecemeal patches must be quickly administered to resolve pressing problems. Given that the staff, charged with managing the center, is not constant, details of the center that are documented may not be documented in the same way. Moreover, software needs to be updated continuously to maintain compliance with new versions of software and new standards, which are continuously changing.
It is important, therefore, to be able to characterize both the software and hardware associated with the infrastructure of a data center quickly with the assistance of automated tools. Considering that fresh data is being generated second by second, and thus new storage must frequently be provisioned, by the center's staff, to preserve a growing heap of data, it is particularly important to be able understand upon what type of hardware that data is being stored, especially when the center is being modified or refurbished.